MEDIA MATTERS

MSNBC suspends Pat Buchanan

Activists condemned beliefs of onetime presidential candidate

Published: 01/09/2012 at 3:55 PM

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An activist group whose leaders object to the beliefs of Pat Buchanan, a senior adviser to three American presidents, a candidate for the Republican nomination in 1992 and 1996, and the Reform Party’s presidential candidate in 2000, is announcing victory in its campaign to have the author of multiple best-selling books removed from MSNBC.

“However, it’s time for MSNBC to permanently end their relationship with Pat Buchanan and the hateful, outdated ideas he represents. We appreciate this first step and urge MSNBC to take the important final step to ensure that their brand is no longer associated with Buchanan’s history of passing off white supremacy ideology as mainstream political commentary.”

Buchanan could not be reached immediately for comment on the campaign or any results, but he essentially has been absent from the network since the release of his latest book about America’s heritage and history. And MSNBC President Phil Griffin said recently, “When Pat was on his book tour, because of the content of the book, I didn’t think it should be part of the national dialogue much less part of the dialogue on MSNBC.”

The group’s outrage was prompted by the warning from the author of six New York Times best-sellers that the America that was founded and built by those who considered the Christian faith important is disintegrating.

Buchanan traces the collapse to three historic changes: America’s loss of her cradle faith, Christianity; the moral, social and cultural collapse that followed that loss; and the slow death of the people who created and ruled the nation.

America was born a Western Christian republic, he explains, but is being transformed into a “multiracial, multicultural, multilingual, multiethnic stew of a nation that has no successful precedent in the history of the world.”

How about, “Dial 1 for English,” election ballots in foreign languages, demands for “rights” from illegal immigrants, and related issues? he questions.

“It is especially disturbing that he continues to be given a platform to espouse his views at a mainstream network like MSNBC, where he is presented as a knowledgeable and respected analyst. Buchanan continues to show his true colors by espousing hateful, bigoted statements in his new book,” said Abraham Foxman, national director for the ADL.

Buchanan was a senior adviser to three American presidents, ran for the Republican nomination in 1992 and 1996, and was the Reform Party’s presidential candidate in 2000. The author of 10 other books, Buchanan is a syndicated columnist and founding member of three of America’s foremost public affairs shows, NBC’s The McLaughlin Group and CNN’s The Capitol Gang and Crossfire.

The campaign to silence Buchanan conflicted with other opinions, including that of The Washington Post, which said, “Buchanan is a muscular writer, fully in command of the English language he feels is under siege. He is adept at linking history, statistics, and the writings of philosophers and economists to proffer forceful arguments.”

And at The Washington Times, Tony Blankley wrote, “Mr. Buchanan … is positively fearless. He is also right.”

Amazon readers by a 7-1 margin were giving the book high marks.

The book explains that America today is “rejecting the commitment to a God-given equality of rights for all as inadequate.”

“Our government is engaged in the manic pursuit of equality of rewards, as it seeks to erect an egalitarian utopia that has never before existed. Less and less do we Americans have in common. More and more do we fight over religion, morality, politics, history, and heroes. And as our nation disintegrates, our government is failing in its fundamental duties, unable to defend our borders, balance our budgets, or win our wars.”